May, 2005

Telecommuting Primer

by Lisa Kleiman, co-editor of The Sidebar

Telecommuting, also known as teleworking, is a formal, scheduled work arrangement between supervisor and employee which allows an employee to perform work at home or other remote site for part or all of the work week using telecommunications equipment. Telecommuting is growing at a brisk pace in the United States. Today, 20% of the U.S. workforce teleworks.

Telecommuting provides a number of benefits to society, the employer, and the employee. The potential benefits include:

Society:

Reduces traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution

Employer:

Enhances employee productivity and work quality
Increases long-term recruiting, retention, and loyalty of employees
Improves employee morale and job satisfaction
Increases workforce diversity by widening the labor pool
Reduces overhead costs, especially in capital investments
Reduces employee sick leave and absenteeism
Enables employees to work during weather or other emergencies
Expands labor pool with ability to attract a wider range of workers

Employee:

Enhances job productivity and work quality
Improves morale and job satisfaction
Provides greater degree of responsibility
Provides greater lifestyle flexibility in meeting family and job needs
Reduces commuting time and stress
Reduces transportation costs
Provides satisfaction from greater employer trust

Telecommuting is not for everyone and has drawbacks that include:

Distractions that interrupt work process (i.e. chores and family)
Family stress & turf problems: spousal resentment of the stay-at-home partner
Water cooler withdrawal: some miss the social aspects of working with people and networking to keep up-to-date
Telecommuter Track: fear of being left out of the loop and ignored for future promotions
Lack of separation between the work and home environment
Reduced motivation to leave the home
Tendency to become a workaholic since you never leave the workplace

Since telecommuting may become a more standard work environment, it is imperative that anyone considering leaving the office environment or being otherwise affected by telecommuting become aware of the problems and pitfalls and guard against them.

The following information presents a host of surveys, evaluations, reports, statistics, and miscellaneous facts about telework, telecommuting, and flexible work.

U.S. Census Bureau (Oct 2004)

Work from home grows:

In the year 2000, 4.2 million (19%) of Americans did some or all of their work at home.
This is an increase of 800,000 (23%) from 1990 to 2000
This is twice the growth rate of the overall workforce
Work at homers tend to be better educated but less driven, on average, than the rest of the workforce
Some 27-37% are college-educated but work fewer hours and earn less money

Survey shows more work done at home

Americans are spending more of their work time at home, according to a survey by the International Telework Association. Highlights of the survey, which was conducted by the Dieringer Research Group, are:

The number of employed Americans who performed ANY KIND of work from home, with a frequency range from as little as 1 day a year to full time, grew from 41.3 million in 2003 to 44.4 million in 2004, a 7.5% growth rate.
Teleworkers who worked at home during business hours at least one day per month increased to 24.1 million in the past year (from 23.5 million).
16.5 million are self employed, a 4.4% increase over 2003.
This represents 18.3% of employed adult Americans, nearly one-fifth of the workforce.
The greatest increase in the number of teleworkers (57%) occurred in medium-sized businesses (100 - 999 employees).
Use of broadband increased from 4.4 million teleworkers in 2003 to 8.1 million in 2004 (an 84% increase).
Employers can realize an annual per employee savings of $5,000.
Telework refers to work independent of location. Broadly defined, anyone who works at home, at a client's office, in a satellite office or a telework center, or on the road can be considered teleworking.

Aug '04 study by TheLadders.com

Working from home is low on executive priority list. Telecommuting from home is ranked a top priority by just 18.7% of managers earning $100,000 or more, according to a survey of 1,078 executives by TheLadders.com, an online executive job search service. Senior executives realize they are required to be visible and available if they want to do well. That doesn't mean executives wouldn't like to have the perk, however. ''While few of the survey respondents ranked working from home as a very important perk, almost 37% would take advantage of it if it was offered,'' said TheLadders.com. The survey also found that 34.3 percent of the executives surveyed said the flexibility to work from home is important, but not a deal-breaker. Just 10.4 percent of those surveyed said they'd rather not have the option at all.

July 20, 2004 In-Stat/MDR Study

This study states that the number of telecommuters in the US will increase from 44 million in 2004 to 51 million by 2008, though only 14 million of the latter will work from home fulltime.

Note: In-Stat counts "telecommuters" as those who work from home regularly, including home-based entrepreneurs, small-business people, and employees who work after-hours at least two nights a week.

Visit In-Stat/MDR on the web.

Society for Human Resource Management

The SHRM sees an increase in telework. A survey of 459 HR professionals found that:

36% offer part time telecommuting
19% offer full time telecommuting
Employers know that offering competitive, attractive benefits packages is a key tool to remain competitive and to help recruit and retain great employees

Telecommuting Resources

The American Telecommuting Association: http://www.knowledgetree.com/ata.html

Hoffman, Sandi, STC Proceedings, 1996, "Home Office Advantage", http://www.stc.org/confproceed/1996/PDFs/PG131135.PDF

Heikes, Peter C., STC Proceedings 2001, "Managing the Virtual Worker/Telecommuter", http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2001/PDFs/STC48-000125.PDF

Johnson, Norton R. STC Proceedings 1996, "Rural Commuting: Making it Work for You", http://www.stc.org/confproceed/1996/PDFs/PG363.PDF

Cassidy, George and Pete Larson, STC Proceedings 2002, "So Near and Yet So Far: Tips for Working With, Managing, or Working as a Remote Resource", http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2002/PDFs/STC49-00071.pdf

Larbi, Nancy E. and Susan Springfield, STC Proceedings 2003, "When No One's Home: Being a Remote Writer on Distributed Teams", http://www.stc.org/ConfProceed/2003/PDFs/STC50-111.pdf

Freelance Work Exchange: http://www.freelanceworkexchange.com/telecommuting2.html

Telework Case Studies:

http://www.nctr.usf.edu/clearinghouse/casestudies.htm

Telework cartoons:

http://www.ivc.ca/cartoons1.htm